WRITING LIFE
Celebrating
As the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School reaches its Diamond Anniversary, chairman Gerald Horns by looks back at 75 years of writing, learning and creating community
The history of Swanwick Writers’ Summer School dates back to 1949. World War II had ended a few years earlier. Food rationing still existed, and thousands of families were facing a future without many of their loved ones.
The NHS had been founded the year before (in 1948) and in 1949, there was one TV channel (BBC). TV ownership was tiny – one TV for every 2,000 people. Car ownership was greater, at one car per 19 people.
In the creative arts, the Ealing comedies Passport to Pimlico, Whisky Galore! and Kind Hearts and Coronets were released to cinema, and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four was published.
And into this situation, where the country was beginning to get back on its feet, the first Writer Circles’ Summer School took place, at the Hayes Conference Centre at Swanwick, Derbyshire.
The idea of a summer school was put forward in 1948 by Cecil Hunt, Chairman of the London Writer Circle. Having spoken at many small meetings throughout the country, he wanted to bring together members of different writers’ circles, where the more successful could pass on their knowledge. The purpose of the school was defined as: ‘To provide a meeting place for writers where, amidst congenial surroundings, they may give and receive help and encouragement in the art of writing.’